Gay Bath House? Good job choice?

So I had this random thought that it might be interesting to work at a gay bath house. I'm so tired of the usual retail and a change of pace might be nice.
So I was wondering if any of the guys on here has ever worked at a gay bath house. What are the pros and cons? Any advice as to whether or not this is a good idea?
I am a people person, I don't mind the adult oriented atmosphere, and I don't car about....cleaning up the messes? lol
So anyway, advice? Please?
Thanks

I know virtually nothing about the operation of gay bathhouses, but that seems like it would either be hooking or one of the worst (and probably worst-paid) janitorial jobs imaginable. Am I missing a career opportunity here?

Gold Member

I have no doubt that CC will hire you (they hire for looks, trust me). Get a full description of your duties before you sign anything. I have never worked at one...but know a few people that did short stints at Steamworks; they said allot of the janitorial duties are downright disgusting and having to police the place for drug activity gets old real fast.

Gold Member

I worked briefly in a gay sex club at their bring-your-own-bottle bar. It was tedious, mostly, and at times surreal; as there were no showers on the property, the sinks in the bathrooms were always crowded with guys washing their junk down with anti-bacterial soap.

The bosses were an owner and his manager, and the turf-wars between them could be intense at times. When sick of taking their frustrations and resentments out on each other, they'd turn on the staff. This got really tired really quickly. They also expected us to instigate sex between the patrons (and, occasionally between the patrons and the staff) that definitely crossed my boundaries.

The pay was terrible, the hours were very long, and the place was basically a hazmat zone freighted with possibly infectious environments, and I'm maybe the least likely to get an OCD freakout of all the membership here.

The best example that springs to mind was after we'd emptied the place of customers only to hear the barback screaming from one of the sling rooms nearby: it was awash --caked-- in congealed blood. The floors, walls and sling were covered in layers of it. I've seen a lot of truly horrifying things, but that small room was a new low, somehow made worse by the fact that whoever bled out so badly managed to walk out calmly and without incident: in fact, we never knew who it could have been.

As cleaning up a mess of that level was far beyond the job description of the daily cleaning crew, it fell on the barback himself to clean it all up (I lent a hand, of course). Before we started, I insisted on latex gloves and warned him of the variety of blood-borne pathogens (mostly Hep B and C, but certainly others, though HIV wasn't a concern).

We scrubbed the place with bleach, brushes, water and lots of rags. FWIW, though management was aware of what we were doing, they didn't even enter the room, let alone help out. It took us about an hour before things looked at least somewhat back to normal.

Needless to say, notifying the police was never an option. And even though the establishment was technically legal (and licensed), there was a protocol all staff members were taught should the police come to the door: music off, all lights on, all activity suspended.

All things considered, I'd probably never work in such an establishment again. The five years I've worked at a local bar/nightclub haven't been magical, but even with the (occasional bullshit) drama, it doesn't come close to those six weeks I worked at the sex club one night per week.

Gold Member

The clean up horrors that Bbucko described are unreal. I imagine you would also find needles as well as dangerous human secretions everywhere. It ranks up there with cleaning up a murder scene. It is a barely legitimate business and as such open to plenty of shady characters, bosses and clients.

Besides is it something you can put on your resume for future employment? I would think twice about working in such a place. Maybe it would be just easier to get your fix by visiting a few times or working there for fun and being able to quit at anytime.

Gold Member

In addition to what Bbucko said (which made me throw up a little in my mouth) and what earllogjam said I can't help but think that the pay for such a position is not going to be all that great. If you are willing to clean up that kind of mess why don't you open your own cleaning business and at least then you are somewhat in charge of your income and how you earn it.

I'm inclined to agree with the assessment of previous posters; the primary duty of a bathhouse employee would be to clean up messes that most of us can't even imagine. The risk of exposure to infectious agents and dangerous materials seems like it blatantly outweighs any sort of "benefit" one might get from working there.

I was taken to a Bathhouse in Chicago on my 21st birthday. The guys there (in Boystown) were a.) not all that hot to begin with and b.) not allowed to engage in any sort of activity with the clientele anyway. I spent my entire night fully clothed talking with one of them and he basically confirmed that the only reason anybody would ever continue to work at a place like that after a few weeks was desperation.

The economy is rough... but if you're willing to do that kind of work, you should be able to put it on a resume and earn a decent wage from it. I'm imagining the people who clean bathrooms at rest stops get more money an hour than a bathhouse employee.

Gold Member

The clean up horrors that Bbucko described are unreal. I imagine you would also find needles as well as dangerous human secretions everywhere. It ranks up there with cleaning up a murder scene. It is a barely legitimate business and as such open to plenty of shady characters, bosses and clients.

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The clients are essentially the same mix of regulars and out-of-towners I get in the bar (which isn't really all that far away from the sex club). Because it's really quite dark inside, it would be a singularly bad place in inject drugs: not to say it never happens, but it's highly unlikely.

More likely are guys looking for customers whom they can sell drugs to, off premises. The guys who work the door know all the likely suspects (and bar them from entry), but FtL's got some major drug issues to consider, especially for a town its size. Guys come here from all over the world, and the "party" runs 24/7 if you know where to look.

You are right about the skeezy management, though. See my response below about how I left, over a pay dispute, six weeks after I started.

Besides is it something you can put on your resume for future employment? I would think twice about working in such a place. Maybe it would be just easier to get your fix by visiting a few times or working there for fun and being able to quit at anytime.

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Unless you plan to be a nightclub/bar "lifer", they create large holes in one's resume that, with today's social media and a simple Google search, can be ferreted out in minutes by a prospective future employer.

There are always ways of overcoming this, but they're a challenge for sure. At least at the bar, there are certain social advantages to my job that I find rewarding. And though I wear very little at the bar, I'm always covered. At the sex club it was encouraged (requested, actually), to work naked except for some accessories (harness, armband, cockring and big boots); granted, it wasn't a demand, but even a natural exhibitionist like me found working in that state to be...daunting, to say the least. Naturally, that job will never appear on any resume.

In addition to what Bbucko said (which made me throw up a little in my mouth) and what earllogjam said I can't help but think that the pay for such a position is not going to be all that great. If you are willing to clean up that kind of mess why don't you open your own cleaning business and at least then you are somewhat in charge of your income and how you earn it.

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Keep in mind, that the time I spent helping out the barback that night was considered voluntary: I was never asked to help (at least not directly) and certainly wasn't paid for it, either. The sex club paid me a $10 stipend per 8-9 hour shift, which didn't cover my transport costs in getting there (I took cabs: you wouldn't want to walk in that stretch of town alone at night).

The plan, originally, was that I'd be paid primarily in tips, but patrons of sex clubs don't walk around with a couple of extra $20 bills in their pockets. During my six-week run there, I occasionally broke even (after travel and other expenses were subtracted) but never succeeded in earning a profit. The bosses were completely unsympathetic to me in this regard, to the point where they told me that my expectations were "too high": that was the week I quit.

One of my long-standing rules is that I never do favors for millionaires. If they are interested enough to engage my services, they should be willing to remunerate me properly, thanks.

Gold Member

The clients are essentially the same mix of regulars and out-of-towners I get in the bar (which isn't really all that far away from the sex club). Because it's really quite dark inside, it would be a singularly bad place in inject drugs: not to say it never happens, but it's highly unlikely.

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Yes, me and every other gay guy on the planet has had his share of going to sex clubs and bathhouses and I like to think myself as just a regular guy who just enjoys sex. I haven't really seen the dark side to these places then of course I never worked behind the scenes at one.

Gold Member

Yes, me and every other gay guy on the planet has had his share of going to sex clubs and bathhouses and I like to think myself as just a regular guy who just enjoys sex. I haven't really seen the dark side to these places then of course I never worked behind the scenes at one.

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There's absolutely a place for such businesses; months after I quit, I met someone whom I wasn't sure I wanted to take home from the bar I work in but was really interested, so I took him there, and we were treated like royalty by the manager. In general, lately I've found it preferable to go to a sex club/bathhouse with someone rather than alone, though when I was younger I'd have found that attitude strange.

Sometimes some situations and some guys call for a venue rather than my home, and I've made use of them plenty of times.

The "dark side" to such places, at least here in FtL, seems to make itself known to me without much searching, but then again my taste in beaux tends to be pretty terrible :redface: